Roger McGuinn, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist for The Byrds, joins us to talk about his upcoming appearance in LA!
The Rock Bottom Remainders, the all-author rock band with Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan andMatt Groening among its members, will hold their last public concert, after performing together for 20 years, at the El Rey Theatre on Friday, June 22, 2012 at 8:30pm. The show is part of the band's final two-city The Past Our Bedtime Tour, which also includes an appearance not open to the public at the American Library Association Conference in Anaheim on the same weekend. The entire band is together for the first time since 2007. Roger McGuinn, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist for The Byrds, will also join as a musical guest. Proceeds will benefit literary causes. For more information on the Rock Bottom Remainders, please see www.rockbottomremainders.com.
Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are $40-$200 and go on sale Thursday, May 24, 2012 via TheElRey.com and Ticketmaster. $200 VIP ticket includes pre-show reception and “meet & greet” from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. This is an all ages show. The historic El Rey Theatre is located in the preserved art deco Miracle Mile district at 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-936-6400). Valet, lot and street parking are available.
On the upcoming concert, popular horror and science fiction writer Stephen King, who plays rhythm guitar says, "A few years ago, Bruce Springsteen told us we weren't bad, but not to try to get any better otherwise we'd just be another lousy band. After 20 years, we still meet his stringent requirements. For instance, while we all know what 'stringent' means, none of us have yet mastered an F chord."
The Band –
By day, they’re authors. Really famous authors. But once a year, they shed their pen-and-pencil clutching personas and become rock stars, complete with roadies, groupies and a wicked cool tour bus. Most of them are both amateur musicians and popular English-language book, magazine, and newspaper authors. Their self-mocking band name was taken from the publishing term “remaindered book,” a work of which the unsold remainder of the publisher's stock of copies is sold at a reduced price.
Confirmed for the concert are Stephen King, who hasn't performed with the band since 2007, as well as Amy Tan (vocals & whip), Dave Barry (co-lead guitar), Matt Groening (cowbell), Mitch Albom (keyboards), Scott Turow (vocals), James McBride (sax), Greg Iles (co-lead guitar),Ridley Pearson (bass), Roy Blount, Jr. (the crowd), Kathi Goldmark (vocals) and Sam Barry (harmonica).
King adds, "I'm looking forward to reuniting with all my bandmates. We're older but not dead. Some of us can remember all of the words; all of us can remember some of the words; but NONE of us can remember all of the music. That's why they call it rock and roll."
Barry chimes in, "It's not that we had a 'creative differences' issue, or some in the band wanted to launch solo music careers, but the fact is that we can no longer play an entire set without having to pee." Barry adds, "We realize the Rolling Stones are celebrating 50 years this year, but we don't want to reach the point where our stage moves involve motorized scooters."